She Lost Her Fallopian Tube Due to Texas’ Abortion Ban—And Fought Back

After a two-year battle, Kyleigh Thurman got acknowledgment of a simple truth: a Texas hospital, while under the state’s abortion ban, broke the law when it didn’t immediately treat her ectopic pregnancy .

But now, the Trump administration is potentially making it even harder for other women in banned abortion states to fight back in a similar way.

Thurman, now 36, filed a complaint against Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital in Round Rock, Texas in 2024 under the terms of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. The federal law, known as EMTALA, requires that emergency rooms provide care to anyone who arrives at that door, regardless of their ability to pay or any other extenuating circumstances.

But when Thurman arrived at Ascension’s ER in February 2023, the complaint alleges that staff refused to treat her ectopic pregnancy, which is when an embryo implants somewhere else in the body, usually a fallopian tube, rather than the uterus. The pregnancy is nonviable, and can be life-threatening if not removed.

The complaint states that on February 17, Thurman first went to her hometown emergency room after testing positive on a pregnancy test and under the guidance of her OBGYN, who suspected based on her heavy bleeding that the pregnancy was ectopic. Staff could not locate a pregnancy in her uterus, but sent her home without giving her medication to end the pregnancy. She then went to Ascension on Feb. 21, because it was a bigger hospital that stocked methotrexate, unlike her hometown ER.

At Ascension, staff found “no intrauterine pregnancy, a two-centimeter ‘rounded structure’ on her right fallopian tube, and slightly decreased hcG levels,” all of which, the complaint says, are signs of an ectopic pregnancy. However, staff “denied Ms. Thurman methotrexate or any other treatment for ectopic pregnancy” and told her to come back in two days. As the complaint notes, this reticence is likely due to Texas’ restrictive abortion ban, which doesn’t allow for the procedure after six weeks of gestation. The harsh penalties for performing an abortion in the state include up to life in prison, leaving medical professionals wary to treat even a clearly nonviable pregnancy due to fear of punishment.

Thurman’s symptoms didn’t improve, and she returned a few days later to the hospital and was finally given an injection of methotrexate which stops cell growth and dissolves existing cells to end the pregnancy. But, per Thurman’s claim, at that point it was too late. Days later, Thurman experienced “blinding pain” and began bleeding heavily. Her ectopic pregnancy had burst in her fallopian tube, and she risked bleeding out. She underwent emergency surgery, where doctors removed her right tube to save her life.

“Kyleigh was overwhelmed by the horror of the ordeal. The removal of the fallopian tube that was necessitated by the delay in treatment likely will impact her ability to have a child in the future,” reads the complaint.